Book review: The Ministry of Special Cases

Nathan Englander, The Ministry of Special Cases (Knopf)

I’m a member of a book-swapping website, so when a book popped up that I’d never heard of and it turned out to be about “Dirty War”-era Argentina, I was intrigued and of course I ordered it right away – although not without a slight feeling of trepidation, because the book was by a non-Argentine, US writer Nathan Englander. Could a foreigner really capture the feeling of the time, I wondered?

The Ministry of Special Cases focuses on a dysfunctional, bleakly comic, urban Jewish family in 1970s Buenos Aires. Kaddish Poznan earns his living desecrating graves by night at the request of their family owners and struggles with his own disreputable inheritance, while his wife Lillian does her boss’s job as well as her own and, of course, the housework. When their son is abducted by the military regime, the couple is drawn into a nightmare of bureaucracy and fear as they struggle to get him back, or indeed hear anything of him at all.

It’s clear from that start – at least for anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of Argentina – that Pato is going to be disappeared, but Englander prolongs the tension before the ultimate abduction. It’s almost painful to wait for the fateful moment, and truly painful to read on as the Poznans attempt, in their very different styles, to save him. I read with a pit in my stomach as Lillian joins interminable queues and scrapes together money for bribes, as Kaddish seeks to mine his circle of acquaintances for possible sources of news, and as the terrible series of events nearly tears the family apart.

Kafkaesque – too glib? Can we avoid the word? I don’t think we can, as the couple come up against prevarication, untruths and a flurry of meaningless paperwork down every corridor of the “Ministry of Special Cases”. The style is not strictly realistic but the story is grounded in hard research. In Lillian, who refuses to contemplate the idea that her son may be dead, we can see some of the founding ideas of the Mother of the Plaza de Mayo, plus there is a guest appearance by a pilot of the death flights (see Adolfo Scilingo). We might also recall that Jews were disproportionately represented among the disappeared, and that there was an anti-Semitic aspect to their torture. The plot spirals down and down the rabbit hole into the darkness. And yet the Poznans’ unfortunate experiences with plastic surgery add a streak of humour to the book.

My doubts about Englander’s ability to draw us in to a novel about Argentina were misplaced, and I was left comparing his work to that of Carlos Gamerro – both take carefully researched stories about the country’s recent history and add a heavy dose of fantasy, violence and black comedy. This novel can stand up against “The Islands” and give the English-speaking reader a great deal to chew on.

Argentina reading

The Economist has a good round-up of recent Argentine fiction dealing with the legacy of the dictatorship - thanks to GoodAirs for drawing my attention to it. In addition, the Guardian is visiting Argentina this month as part of its world literature tour feature. Don't miss the comments for lots of reading inspiration - it's not just Borges!

Argentina: RIP Tomas Eloy Martinez

The fine Argentine author Tomas Eloy Martinez has died aged 75. Martinez's works are highly relevant for the themes of this blog and he was himself forced into exile during the Presidency of Isabel Peron in 1975. I read Santa Evita just before I started my Master's on Argentina and it impressed me deeply - I may need to dig it out again in his memory.

Argentine author Martinez dies at age 75 (AP)

Peru: The book pirates of Peru

Slightly off topic, but I loved this Guardian slide show of photographs by novelist Daniel Alarcón (no, I haven't read any of his books, but will keep an eye out now) on the subject of Peruvian book piracy. As he points out, the pirate book industry is 'at least' as big at the legitimate one in Peru. While I was in Peru, I made an effort to buy genuine books and CDs, despite the price - after all, I could afford them, having already managed to travel halfway round the world to be there. DVDs, though, were a different story - I have an interest in Latin American film and was fully prepared to support the industry by buying the real deal, but you just can't find nonpirated DVDs!

Alarcón also notes;

For some 30 years, the National Library of Peru’s budget to acquire new books remained unchanged: zero.

I have to say I made good use of the National Library on Avenida Abancay (there's also a new building in San Borja which I think is open now) and it certainly has books less than 30 years old, although I don't know how these are funded, perhaps partly by donations. Despite some of the drawbacks of the institution (the noise from the street; the laborious bureaucratic process of obtaining photocopies; the poor condition of the newspaper archive, and the mysterious bites I obtained while working there), it's a beautiful building and quite conducive to effective work. And the young man operating the photocopier was also both friendly and professional!

Anyway, the photos are great; click through to see them all.

The book pirates of Peru (Guardian)

12 September (II)

On this day 17 years ago Abimael Guzmán was arrested in Lima, precipitating the collapse of the Shining Path (which is currently undergoing some form of revival). Today, the former guerrilla leader is publishing his memoirs, which were apparently written between 2005 and 2007. According to the Associated Press, "the book also reveals aspects of his childhood like his love for soccer and desire to join the military". El Comercio quotes Guzmán's lawyer as saying that the book contains "self-criticism" but not "repentance".

From what I've heard of Guzmán's previous writing and propensity for long-winded speeches, I have little hope that this will be a literary masterpiece, but naturally it is academically interesting. I have no idea if any Peru-based readers will feel compelled to purchase a copy - perhaps they would object to indirectly funding Guzmán in this way? - but if so, please let me know what it's like.

Peru's Shining Path founder to publish book (AP)
Guzman publica memorias en aniversario de su captura (El Comercio)

Argentina: Memorias en la ciudad

The fantastic Argentine organisation Memoria Abierta, which I visited in 2004, has produced a book called Memorias en la ciudad: Señales del terrorismo de Estado en Buenos Aires. It contains photographs and information about 38 illegal detention centres and 202 memorial sites in the Argentine capital.

The topography of cities is made up by layer upon layer of memories of the past. Although not always apparent in the hustle and bustle of city life, buildings, street corners, sidewalk tiles, and the nameplates of city squares and streets carry out their normal function while also revealing absences and sending messages from the past.

It's published by Eudeba and looks fascinating, doesn't look like it will be easy to source outside Argentina however.

Book Review: Viva South America!

Oliver Balch, Viva South America!

Full disclosure: this book was a gift (thanks mum!), and it wouldn't have occurred to me to buy it myself. From the cover, it looks like a standard travelogue and while I have enjoyed several of those in the past, after a while they tend to get samey and the amount of reading and travelling I've done on South America means that I just pick on the generalisations/ inaccuracies and get annoyed (anyone else feel this way?).

Anyway, clearly once I had Oliver Balch's book I was going to give it a try. The premise is that the author sets out in the footsteps of Simón Bolívar to find out about his legacy in the region today. He visits nine different countries and tackles a different theme in each one, for example violence in Colombia, human rights in Paraguay, and women in Chile. That is a pretty big task considering you could easily write a book on each of the issues covered, and detail is correspondingly sparse.

In general my expectations were exceeded. Balch is a good writer who really keeps the prose flowing, and there were only a few minor annoyances for me (chief among them being the dodgy use of accents in Spanish words, and perhaps the author was not directly responsible for this...). Perhaps surprisingly, I was not so keen on the chapter on Argentina, where Balch is actually based, but preferred his treatment of the Andean nations of Peru and Ecuador. The Bolivarian frame... well, I'm not convinced. The political analysis is very thin on the ground, and there's not so much as a suggestion for further reading at the back. It's actually not that kind of book, even if the preface leads you to believe that might be the case. But it is a competent dash through South America packed with numerous interviews and insights.

Argentina: Elsa Osorio

Argentine writer Elsa Osorio is interviewed in Pagina/12 about her new book of short stories, Callejon con salida. Just as her other work, which has been translated into several languages, it deals with issues of memory and the legacy of the past in Argentina. This new collection was apparently triggered by Osorio's interest in the trial of Scilingo in Spain in 2005.

In this interview, Osorio states her creed, "I don't believe in forgetting, I believe that the way out for society is the way of Justice".

I have to admit that I have a copy of Osorio's My name is Light (Spanish title, A veinte años Luz) on my bookshelf and I never finished it - but not because I thought it wasn't worth it. Quite simply, it was too much for me. At the time, I was deep into research of the stolen children of Argentina and reading about in fictional form was so strong I couldn't face it after a day in the archives or at the library. This in itself is probably a testament to the strength of Osorio's writing. Perhaps now, with some distance, I can give it another try.

"A veces hace falta festejar la vida" (Pagina/12)

Argentina News Round-Up

The testimony presented to the federal judge included accounts of a soldier who was shot to death by a corporal, four soldiers who starved to death, and fifteen alleged cases of torture in which conscripts were staked to the ground as punishment, according to Argentinean media reports.

Officers To Be Tried For Crimes Against Humanity During Falklands War (Impunity Watch)

Editor's Story of the Argentine Dirty War (The Latin Americanist)

Huellas policiales del terrorismo de estado (Pagina/12)

Argentina: 22 Years of Pagina/12

Pagina/12 has produced a commemorative supplement for its 22nd anniversary. It's called '22 years opposed to impunity" (Spanish, pdf) which speaks to the importance of human rights and democratisation in the newspaper's standpoint, and it focuses on the tortuous story of justice - or lack thereof - since the end of the dictatorship. It's basically a compilation of previous key pieces by authors including Horacio Verbitsky, the late great Mario Benedetti, Eduardo Galeano and Ariel Dorfman. If you have some reading time, check it out.

Blog Round-Up

To The Roots (formerly Latin American Musings) reviews Peter Chapman's Bananas, a history of the United Fruit Company, a multinational whose very long shadow was cast over Central America.

NACLA has a rather upbeat report from Guatemala: Landmark Developments in Guatemalan Human Rights

Colombia: Victims of State Crimes Speak Out (IPS)

There's also another book review from the Reading Archives blog; these two studies may not be Latin America-focused, but they are highly relevant to this blog's 'memory' theme, and remind us of the parallels in other parts of the world which have also suffered civil wars and state terrorism and are struggling to come to terms with these.

Peru: Burt & Youngers on Fujimori

Recommended reading of the day: Jo-Marie Burt and Colette Youngers assess the trial of Fujimori.

Ex-President Found Guilty of Grave Human Rights Violations (WOLA)

Book Review: The Shock Doctrine

Here's my own take on an already thoroughly-reviewed publication, Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine (see also an ongoing series at Alterdestiny for a chapter-by-chapter consideration).

First to say that the video below is an excellent introduction to the major themes raised and the principle - thanks to Justin Delacour of Latin America News Review for drawing my attention to it:



In brief, then, Klein draws parallels between individual acts of torture (many derived from psychological experiments in sensory overload and deprivation), state-sponsored mass torture and 'torture' of entire nations through economic shock treatment. Of course this is a bold move, and Walden Bello is right to point out its risks: presenting the global economy as a conspiracy theory, overreaching the horrific descriptions of physical abuse in a way which will alienate an academic audience, and so on. To an extent, the success or failure of the book hinges on whether you can accept that a politico-economic elite is prepared to 'torture' a greater part of the world's populations for its own ends.

This is not to say that Klein's argument is not convincing. She is an excellent writer - although she sometimes walks a fine line between the factual and the merely dramatic, she tends to stay on the right side of it - and the book is well researched, albeit not perfectly in all areas. I studied the sources for the chapter dealing with Argentina, with which I am most familiar, and noted that her main source for information on torture in Argentina is Margeurite Feitlowitz's Lexicon of Terror. Feitlowitz's volume is a great read but it is contains a few dubious suppositions which I have seen repeated uncritically elsewhere and which reappear here, and anyway, there are many other valuable works available to corroborate. I would have been happier to see a greater range of sources (there are others, of course, but in this section it is mainly Feitlowitz and Michael McCaughan's book on Rodolfo Walsh). However, one real plus is that fact that the book is supplemented by a website where you can view many of the primary sources for yourself (incidentally, I would class this as an example of the best possible combination of traditional publishing and use of new technology).

While I wasn't always comfortable with the torture metaphor, I was to a large extent convinced by Klein's argument of the appalling destruction caused by extreme free market measures introduced during a country's most vulnerable period. I also agreed that on occasion, focusing too narrowly on individual human rights abuses can distract attention from the wider issue - although I can't accept that such abuses should not be focused on.

Klein's great strength is the breadth of her survey in The Shock Doctrine. I was in familiar territory with the material on Chile and Argentina, but Poland, Russia, South Africa, China and even to some extent Bolivia were new to me. I was shocked, as the title hinted I might be, my eyes were opened, and I was also profoundly depressed. Klein attempts to lift the mood in the last couple of chapters and give us some hope that we can overcome international shock, but to be honest it didn't convince me. I am not sure that the world has found the answer for how to overcome the damage to financial and democratic institutions which are perhaps the deepest legacy of the South American military dictatorships, aside from the other examples in the book. Despite the lack of cheer with which I end my review, however, I do recommend this book for its fascinating insights, its power to rouse the reader to anger, and its consciousness-raising abilities.

Peru Resources

Here's a list of reading on Peru and the legacy of its political violence - all for free on the interweb:

The library of the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (which you can visit in person if you happen to be in Lima) has made available a selection of texts in PDF (all Spanish language)

Shining Path in the archives of the New York Times

The Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) have compiled a list of their past articles on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Spanish)

Then we've got The Legacy of Truth: Criminal Justice in the Peruvian Transition, eds Lisa Magarrell and Leonardo Filippini - a whole 130 pages worth

And finally, Truth Commissions in Guatemala and Peru: Perpetual Impunity and Transitional Justice Compared by Joanna Crandall

Chile: Images of Exile

Readers, despite appearances I do know that the title of this blog is 'Memory in Latin America' and not 'Memory in Peru'. Nevertheless there seems to be a fair amount going on in Peru, it's a country I have actually spent time in, and I follow its media pretty closely. So obviously coverage is going to be somewhat disproportionate (Argentina is always in second place as far as numbers of posts go for similar reasons).

But, turning briefly to Chile. Apparently there's a new book out called L. Memoria gráfica del exilio chileno 1973-1989. 'L' was stamped in the passports of Chileans who were not allowed back into the country during the Pinochet dictatorship.

Exile is always a strange, inbetween state. In some countries, there is a certain amount of resentment of those who managed to escape the torture and hardship that their compatriots back home endured. The pain of exile (or banishment) is often brushed aside. Yet in his introduction to the book, Ariel Dorfman notes,

"I didn’t expect to feel myself once again overcome by the sense of loss brought on by the departure from Chile, the tragedy – not just mine but of an entire continent; the traumatic experience of not recognising syllables, colours, hills or the smells of the ‘marraqueta’ (typical Chilean bread); those nights when I knew what was happening in some cellar in my country at that very moment and there was nothing I could do, nothing, absolutely nothing to stop those heinous crimes," said the writer.

Images of Exile (IPS)

Argentina: 24 of March Sources and Materials

On the 33rd anniversary of the last coup d'etat in Argentina, I've compiled a selection of sources and materials about the dictatorship and the memory of it. All are freely accessible.

The government website, www.24demarzo.gov.ar, has a wealth of original materials (scans) and photographs. See the news headlines from the day of the coup and read Henry Kissinger's chilling green light for repression ("we won't cause you unnecessary difficulties"). Spanish language, except when the original document is English language.

The site of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo) offers a series of full-size books about its work for free download as PDFs - for example, La historia de abuelas: 30 anos de busqueda. Spanish language.

The archive Memoria Abierta offers a guide to archives dealing with human rights in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil and Peru, plus other reading material. Spanish language materials mostly, although the site is also available in English.

In 2006, left-wing newspaper Pagina/12 produced a special supplement to commemorate 30 years since the coup, which is still available online. Spanish language.

Bolivia/Argentina Testimonies

I was just browsing the Guardian Weekly online and found two pieces that may be of interest. In both cases, you don't often get to read such detailed first-person accounts (the result of interviews) in English.

The first is the story of Rufo Yanarico, a member of indigenous group the Red Ponchos in Bolivia.

The second is the testimony of Victoria Donda, the daughter of disappeared parents who only discovered her true identity as an adult.

Argentine Reading Matter

Happy New Year all... I'm off for a long weekend away, so there won't be any more posts til January 5 at the earliest. I'll leave you with some interesting Argentine pieces I found just searching around:

An interesting account of the development of the memory museum at the ESMA, and seems generally soundly informed - except possibly for the bit about the running people over with motorcycles. It may be that that is true, but I've never heard of it before and I have read a lot about the torture at the ESMA. I'd be interested to get a source on that one.
Raw Nerves at a Museum of Argentina's "Dirty War" (US News and World Report)

And a description of a tour around the ESMA as well (I wonder if the 'Victor' mentioned as the tour guide is survivor Victor Basterra?)
Argentina's Space for Memory Opens its Doors in Former Clandestine Detention Center (WIP)

Finally, a review of the work of Argentine historian Luis Alberto Romero, who as it happens spoke at the first academic conference I ever went to. There are some interesting memory/history issues brought up here.
Remembering military dictatorship in Argentina (Old Hickory's Weblog)

Book Review: Belching out the Devil

I've just finished reading Mark Thomas' Belching out the Devil, which is a book about Coca Cola.

More specifically, it's a book about how the world's top brand [Belching, p.4] is complicit in intimidation, union breaking, poor working practices, environmental destruction, oh yes - and murder. And it has jokes, rather incredibly. Thomas is a British comedian and political activist, and he doesn't hesitate to mix the two to get your attention. The book is written in a jolly, witty tone which occasionally cracks open to reveal Thomas' deep sense of anger at the injustice of Coke's behaviour. It is also decently researched, however, with a wodge of endnotes and an appendix which contains - hilariously - Coke's response to the questions Thomas sent them, with their lawyer's notes and strike-throughs included; someone sent him the wrong version. Well done that man!

Thomas visits the US, India and Turkey, but also Mexico, El Salvador, and Colombia, so it's a Latin-American-relevant read. In Mexico, he visits communities where Coca Cola has become incorporated into traditional indigenous religious ceremonies (hence the title of the book). In El Salvador, a little wandering around is enough to come across child labourers in the sugarcane fields; so how many are there really?

It is Colombia, though, where the story gets really hot. Isidro Gil was shot by paramilitaries inside the Coca Cola bottling plant in Carepa. He was the fourth union leader to be killed in the area. The bottling company was, naturally, devastated by this unfortunate turn of events which led to the collapse of the union within the plant - and as a sign of mourning, promptly cut wages from around $400 a month, to just $130. Remaining union activists continue to receive death threats.

The thing is that The Coca Cola Company denies any and all responsibility for such events because, it claims, they just supply the concentrate. The work of independent bottlers and distributors in developing countries is nothing to do with them and they cannot be held responsible for it. Which is a point, except that 1) they hold decisive amounts of shares in many of these 'independent companies' 2) if Coke asks them to sack people, the people are sacked. If Coke says 'jump', the companies say 'how high?', so clearly Coke has a huge influence on the behaviour of these enterprises, and 3) it's Coca Cola on the label. Thomas argues that just as Nike, the Gap and the like should be held to account for sweat shops that make their clothes as part of the supply chain, so should Coca Cola be responsible for everything that goes into making one of their little bottles of brown caramel-sugar-water. You might choose to agree with him.

This book keeps the facts clear, carries you along nicely and is, in general, a good read. My only quibble: was it even proofread at all? The typos are everywhere, including, embarrassingly, in proper names. I hope they sort this out for future editions. I'm not generally hugely into boycotts, but I can tell you I haven't bought a Coke since I started reading it and I don't have plans to either. I mean, if you are really looking for a book about injustice in Latin America and you haven't already read it, then you can't beat Tina Rosenberg's Children of Cain, and you should run and order that instead. But, assuming that classic is already on your shelf, and you feel like another book along the same lines as Amaranta Wright's Levi's, Latin America and the Blue Jean Dream (which I also enjoyed), then by all means give Belching out the Devil a try. Just be warned: the next oversweetened 'sparkling beverage' you drink might leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

More info:
www.cokefacts.com - the company's own 'straight-talking' site on labour and environmental issues. Thomas calls into question many of these 'facts' in his book.
www.killercoke.org - has the details on the campaign against Coke in Colombia.

Cultural Sunday

Venezuela: How Children Show their Community through Photography (Global Voices Online)

Stuart Archer Cohen's new novel imagines the rise of an urban insurgency in the United States and looks to Argentina for inspiration:
Argentina: The Creation of an Urban Guerrilla (Upside Down World)

And a documentary looks at one of the founders of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Chicha Mariani (the mother and mother-in-law of Daniel and Diana in Laura Alcoba's The Rabbit House)
Dolor y esperanza (Pagina/12)